What it takes to be the hero in a novel

Archive for March 3rd, 2014

You know what? There are only so many books I can read in my lifetime.

I’m not young. I’m on the downward slope of life. I always thought I’d read all the books I want when I get the time. But the fact is, I’ll never have that much time.

So I gotta cull my to-read list. My stacks of books. Shelves of books. Those many, many e-books.

See, the thing is I have too many books. This is because a) they were the last copy and on sale so of course I just had to buy them, b) they were only a buck or two at Goodwill, c) they’re Kindle books, which are too inexpensive and easy to buy, and c) they’re gifts from relatives and friends. It doesn’t help that a lot of them are big honkin’ histories and biographies (my weakness) which I can’t exactly whip through over a weekend.

It also doesn’t help that I’ve met some wonderful writers on the Internet, like, say, YOU ALL! And of course I just have to get your novels and short stories which are entertaining and exciting and even thoughtful, and I will, eventually, finish reading them all. But please be patient with me.

I’ve found that what I’m losing interest in are a lot of “literary” novels I have lying around. They tend to be all atmosphere and beautiful language, but the plot (if there is one) can be so thin that I just can’t hang in there. Like Toni Morrison’s Jazz: Beautiful writing, but too stream-of-consciousness-no-story for me. Seriously, some of you know more about storytelling and plot construction than you’d find in her much-praised books.

Okay, I confess that on Friday I bought Hillary Mantel’s brilliant Bring Down the Bodies (Booker Prize winner), because it was on sale and I really want to read it because I couldn’t put down her Wolf Hall. But I won’t be reading it until I finish some of your books, which I also really want to read, and a couple of history books relevant to my Charity MacCay manuscripts, which I’m still polishing.

Then I swear I’m gonna stop buying books except for those of my blogging friends. And I’m gonna stay out of bookstores. And away from Amazon. Really. I swear it.

How about you? Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by all the good books that are out there?

My Plan for 2013

I’m a writer, author of The Compass Master, and this blog had been a record of my efforts to be like its action hero Layla Daltry. I did everything from skydiving to picking locks to bashing myself up in sports like parkour. But 2013 will be my do-or-die year. If Compass or my two forthcoming Charity MacCay novels don't sell fabulously well, I'm giving up writing. Forever. Except maybe blogging.